Terrorists are plotting against the UK faster and more intensely than ever before, the head of MI5 has warned

Armed police respond to a terror attack on the Palace of Westminster on March 22, 2017.

source

Reuters

MI5 director general Andrew Parker gave a stark warning on Tuesday.He said terrorists are planning attacks on Britain with unprecedented pace and determination.Parker claimed MI5 is now foiling one major terror plot a month.2017 has seen four successful terror attacks, which claimed 36 lives.

Terrorists are targetting the United Kingdom with a greater pace and intensity than ever before, according to the head of the MI5 intelligence agency.

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MI5 Director General Andrew Parker gives a speech on October 17, 2017.

source

Reuters

Andrew Parker, MI5’s director general, said the threat to Britain is “more diverse” than ever before, ranging from elaborate plots organised overseas to spontaneous eruptions of unplanned violence by individuals.

He said MI5 had stopped 20 plots in the past four years, seven of which (more than one third) were in the past seven months.

There have been four successful attacks this year – Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, Manchester Arena, and Finsbury Park – resulting in a total of 36 deaths. A botched bombing at the Parsons Green London Underground station last month injured 30 people but did not kill anybody.

Parker said: “The threat is more diverse than I have ever known: Plots developed here in the UK, but plots directed from overseas as well, plots online, complex scheming and also crude stabbings, lengthy planning but also spontaneous attacks.

“Attacks can sometimes accelerate from inception, through planning, to action in just a handful of days.”

He said MI5 is currently running 500 concurrent counter-terror investigations, and is monitoring 3,000 suspects. As many as 20,000 have been flagged as potential causes for concern, he said, but cannot be closely monitored because of finite resources.